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Banuls Cardona et al 2014 PALEODAYS
Sandra Bañuls-Cardona
New Data from Pleistocene deposit of S. Ciro cave
2014 •
Sandro Caracausi
Geobios
Neogene Park – Vertebrate Migration in the Mediterranean and Paratethys
2013 •
Paul Mazza
A Late Occurring “Hipparion” from the middle Villafranchian of Monopoly, Italy (early Pleistocene; MN16b; ca. 2.5 Ma)
2017 •
Raymond Bernor
We report here for the first time the occurrence in the Montopoli large mammal fossil assemblage of a small equid taxon identified as “Hipparion” sp., associated to the monodactyl large horse Equus cf. livenzovensis. This occurrence has been recognised on a specimen that the late De Giuli (1938-1988) identified as Hipparion sp. in unpublished notes available in the archives of the Vertebrate Palaeontology Laboratory of the Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra at the Università degli Studi di Firenze. Although fragmentary, the specimen documents the occurrence of “Hipparion” at the middle Villafranchian (early Pleistocene, ca. 2.5 Ma) site of Montopoli, one of the latest occurrences of an hipparionine horse in western Europe. The western Eurasian “Hipparion” evolutionary history is summarised herein. RIASSUNTO [Una forma tardiva di “Hipparion” nell’associazione faunistica del Villafranchiano medio di Montopoli, Italia (Pleistocene inferiore; MN16b; ca. 2.5 Ma)] Si segnala per la prima...
A large tusk of Metaxytherium (Dugongidae, Sirenia, Mammalia) from the Late Miocene of Montebamboli (southern Tuscany, Italy): evolutionary and paleoecological implications
Luca Pandolfi, Michela Contessi
An isolated large tusk, belonging to the historical finds of the Collezione di Geologia "Museo Giovanni Capellini" (Bologna, Italy) and originally identified as belonging to a hippopotamus, is here described and reassigned to the genus Metaxytherium (Dugongidae, Sirenia, Mammalia). According to the museum label, this specimen originates from the now-exhausted lignite deposits of Montebamboli (Tuscany, central Italy); the latter are late Tortonian to early Messinian in age and were deposited in a lacustrine environment. The Montebamboli tusk displays strong similarities with an elderly Metaxytherium subapenninum specimen from the Pliocene deposits of Bra (Piedmont, northern Italy) as well as with an isolated Metaxytherium tusk, now apparently lost, from Miocene deposits of Son Morelló (Mallorca, Spain). The Late Miocene occurrence of a large-tusked Metaxytherium in the Mediterranean Basin calls into question the anagenetic trend previously proposed for the Euro-North African species of Metaxytherium, thus also stimulating further research on the intra-and interspecific tusk size variability within this lineage. Furthermore, this specimen represents the first record of a marine species from the lignites of Montebamboli, indicating the proximity of marine settings.
Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen
A cetotheriid whale from the upper Miocene of the Mediterranean
2021 •
Andrea Di Cencio
The Montopoli site, a reference Local Fauna in the Pliocene and Pleistocene European Large Mammals Biochronology, first discovered by Giovanni Capellini (1833-1922
Luca Pandolfi
The Italian paleontologist Giovanni Capellini (1833-1922), internationally renowned for his studies on cetaceans, was the first to discover one of the most important sites for European land mammals biochronology of the Pliocene and Pleistocene, Montopoli (Pisa province; Tuscany). Excavated during the second half of the nineteenth century by the Swiss paleontologist Charles Immanuel Forsyth Major (1843-1923), the fauna from Montopoli differs greatly from the older sites of Italy and Europe. The presence of taxa adapted to more open country environments, typical of arid and progressively cooler habits, contrasts with the faunas of the Early Villafranchian (generally characterized by wooded, tropical/subtropical taxa). This difference led several scholars to regard the fauna of Montopoli as the base of the Middle s. The present study aims to investigate the relationships, in terms of similarity/differences, between the faunal association of Montopoli as compared to other Pliocene and Pleistocene ones from the Old World. Toward achieving this objective we used generic-based resemblance indices and permutative clustering methods attested in literature for their discrimination power. The results of our analysis strengthen the interpretation of the pivotal importance of the faunal association of Montopoli, not only at a regional level but also within a pan-Eurasian Pliocene and Pleistocene framework.
New materials of the enigmatic giant viperid Laophis crotaloides (Squamata, Serpentes) from the Pliocene of Greece, with comments on reptilian gigantism in the Neogene of Europe
Benjamin P. Kear
A fragmentary isolated vertebra from the early Pliocene of Megalo Emvolon (also known Karabournou) in Northern Greece is referred to the gigantic extinct viper Laophis crotaloides Owen. This taxon was originally named on the basis of 13 vertebrae recovered from Megalo Emvolon in 1857, and subsequently lodged in the collection of The Natural History Museum in London. Unfortunately, the type remains have since been lost and the species thus ignored or relegated to a nomen dubium, in spite of its estimated body length having potentially exceeded 3.5 metres. The incomplete and isolated nature of the new Laophis specimen hinders resolution to lower taxonomic levels. However, the fossil can be unequivocally placed within Viperidae because of its proportionally wide cotyle and condyle (the latter being markedly robust), probable presence of a hypapophysis, and most notably its dorsally tilted prezygapophyseal facets. Moreover, a multivariate quantitative approach supports previous assertions of large body size with an estimated maximum length and body mass, comparable to, if not larger than Lachesis muta, the largest extant viperid - a size that distinguish Laophis as amongst the largest extinct or extant venomous snakes ever known. The presence of a colossal viperid within the late Neogene ecosystems of mainland Greece is also significant because it concurs with the distribution of other gigantic Mio-Pliocene reptiles, including the large elapid Naja sp., another substantial but indeterminate species of Vipera, the varanid lizard Varanus marathonensis, and the colossal tortoises Cheirogaster. Similar coeval taxa have been found throughout the Balkan peninsula, southwestern Europe, and Asia Minor, and coincide with the onset of widespread climatic cooling during the late Miocene–late Pliocene. The spread of savannah grasslands throughout Mediterranean Europe during this time has been used to explain increased body sizes in herbivorous tortoises via dietary selection for greater consumption of C4 vegetation. However alternative ecological and/or physiological factors must be sought for large ectothermic predators, which would have had to effectively compete within a trophic system otherwise dominated by a broad range of mammalian carnivores.
I cetacei fossili nei musei italiani
Giovanni Bianucci
Geosciences
Reviewing the Palaeontological and Palaeoenvironmental Heritage of the Monti Pisani Massif (Italy): A Compelling History of Animals, Plants and Climates through Three Geological Eras
Chiara Sorbini
The Monti Pisani massif (Tuscany, central Italy) is an isolated mountain relief known for its rich geodiversity, including a remarkable palaeontological heritage from the Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras. The Palaeozoic record consists of exquisitely preserved plant remains and rarer invertebrates of Permo-Carboniferous age, which testify to extensive rainforests and large swamps that thrived in an alluvial system under a humid, (sub)tropical climate. In addition to invertebrate shells, invertebrate trace fossils and microbial structures, the Mesozoic record features a diverse Middle Triassic tetrapod ichnoassemblage consisting of tracks of lepidosauromorphs, archosaurs (among which are the earliest dinosauromorph fossils of Italy) and nonmammalian therapsids. These vertebrates lived in a subsiding costal setting that stretched across an expanding rift valley under a subarid climate. The Cenozoic record features abundant fossils of terrestrial vertebrates (including spectacula...
